13 January 2010

IC:E-WINTER WARM UP - Pancake Cupcakes

For those not in the know, (like me, until a few weeks ago) Iron Cupcake is a serious bake-off held once a month. Very professional bakers participate (go check out some of the photos - pure food porn!) and come up with incredible creations. And then people like me try and tag along for the ride - hey, if nothing else, at least it gives me an excuse to eat cupcakes!!! They also have some very generous prizes:

So, the theme of my first ever Iron Cupcake is Winter Warm Up. At first, I was thinking of adapting all kinds of flavours into cupcakes of crazy awesomeness (I was originally gonna go with English Breakfast tea cakes - literally cuppa-cakes!)... but I realised that a) I don't have that kind of time (I left the office at 7 tonight!) and b) I'm kinda out of practice in the cupcake arena...

But then it hit me. When we were growing up, the best winter warm up breakfast in the world was pancakes - specifically, brown sugar cinnamon pancakes with butter and maple syrup. Not being able to eat wheat has made me miss out on this treat as of late: but combining these flavours into a gluten free cupcake - now that is the very definition of awesome!

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

(There were 12 originally... but I ate one.... totally worth it though!)

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

To make icing:

Mix the maple syrup and milk together. Cream the butter and slowly add the sugar (half a cup at a time) while continuously mixing. Alternate adding the sugar with the milk mixture. Cream until the icing is thick enough to spread. (The recipe says you might need more - but this stuff is seriously sweet as it is!)

Note that the recipe originally called for unsalted butter - but I'm a big fan of the salty-sweet combination, particularly in the cupcakes! I only ended up using about 1/2 the icing - but you really can't make it in a smaller batch, which is a shame...

I found the icing to be a bit on the rich side - next time, I reckon I'll do a cream cheese/sour cream type icing - nice bit of contrast (especially when it's nice and warm out of the oven....mmmm). But I was incredibly pleased with how these turned out! Normally, gluten free stuff is all crumbly - but these are light and fluffy and delicious! (I was going to share them with some people at work... but I'm not so sure about that now lol!)(You can even see the bubbles!!!)